Thursday, August 7, 2008

The late Sumantra Ghoshal had observed sometime back that a very different management philosophy is arising and will become dominant – the purpose, process, people philosophy.

We are moving beyond strategy to purpose; beyond structure to process; and beyond systems to people.

This will shift the basic doctrine of shareholder capitalism, and moderate it so that if people are adding the most value then people will increasingly have to be seen as investors not as employees. Shareholders invest money and expect a return on their money and expect capital growth. People will be seen in the same way. So they will invest their human capital in the company, will expect a return on it, and expect growth of that capital.

Ghoshals’ legacy lives on.

He mentored and then extensively co-authored with Harvard’s Nitin Nohria, and inspired his students toward a more holistic view of management and leadership and how it is linked to broader society.

Nitin and I have been co-authoring papers and cases on management as a profession, says Rakesh Khurana, an Associate Professor of Management Harvard Business School

A profession, not simply in a technical sense, but in a normative sense which considers thinks like responsibility, mutual respect for the various constituents in a business enterprise, such as employees and customers, and accountability.

Ideas which were catalyzed through discussions with Sumantra. Indeed, my current research and forthcoming book project is on management as a profession as developed through a sociological analysis of elite, U.S. business schools.

In the increasingly global world of business thinking, an American Spring could be followed by an Indian Summer.

A passage to India

Some US companies appear to have recognized the shifting intellectual tide. A number now regularly second people to India, reversing the traditional flow of corporate knowledge. Infosys, for example, runs an intern program in which Americans go to work in India. U.S. companies are also becoming more attuned to Indian culture.

Intel is not alone. Other high-tech firms including Adaptec, AMD, Intuit, and Rockwell Automation also offer Indian cultural lessons to their employees. Unlike some diversity training, which is aimed at avoiding law suits, Indian cultural programs are specifically aimed at boosting performance. Some companies, like chipmaker AMD, have gone further. For its Indian Global Immersion Program, the firm flew teams of Indian workers – at $17,000 per person – to Sunnyvale, California, and Austin, Texas, for a month of cultural training with US managers.

Some US companies appear to have recognized the shifting intellectual tide. A number now regularly second people to India, reversing the traditional flow of corporate knowledge. Infosys, for example, runs an intern program in which Americans go to work in India. U.S. companies are also becoming more attuned to Indian culture.

Courtesy : The book by Stuart Crainer And Des Dearlove

Stuart Crainer and Des Dearlove are the founders of Suntop Media. Their " Thinkers 50 " list of most influential global business thought-leaders is a definitive bi-annual guide with endorsement from European Foundation of Management Development (EFMD).

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